Four Cubs Trade Targets We’ll Probably Hear About This Winter ...Middle East

Five days ago, Jon Heyman dropped one of the least surprising (but nonetheless important) offseason rumors on us: The Dodgers are expected to pursue exiting Cubs free agent outfielder Kyle Tucker this winter. Generally speaking: Duh. They’re the Dodgers, and Kyle Tucker is a premier free agent on the right side of 30, who plays a position of need. It’s not difficult to imagine a budding romance. But that rumor did get me thinking about the Cubs and the distinct LACK of early rumors this late season and October.

I got into this idea a bit on the latest episode of the BN Cubs Podcast, saying “I feel as though, the last few years, there have been Cubs rumors like (the Dodgers and Kyle Tucker this October), that start sometime around the end of August, and then there’s a little in September, and then when the season ends, there’s at least one thing like ‘Hey, it might be this guy (for the Cubs to target) this year.’ And there hasn’t really been that yet.”

In fact, it happened with the Cubs and Kyle Tucker last August/September, but there are plenty of other examples in the seasons prior. And although Brett didn’t have an answer as to why that was different this year, he did bring up a good point about some rumors we should expect to see soon enough.

“You know what it’s gonna be — and I bet this will emerge soon — is some of the pitchers we were talking about in July as possible Cubs targets in trade. I think that stuff is going to start to surface again. Because those are conversations that should happen. And we know the Cubs need to add starting pitching, and we know they prefer all else equal to keep those shorter-term if possible. And one way to do that is to have trade talks on cost-controlled guys. They did it last year with (Jesus) Luzardo, which didn’t end up coming to fruition. But it would not surprise me — MacKenzie Gore, Edward Cabrera, Sandy Alcantara, Joe Ryan….”

Great point, Brett! And might I say, what a handsome co-host you have.

The renewed rumors may not have started yet, but I tend to think Brett is correct. We’ve seen this a DOZEN times in the past (teams begin trade talks in an offseason and finish them at the deadline, or start them at the deadline and complete them in the offseason). So let’s briefly talk about each of the four guys to see how their season went (before and after the deadline), how much control they have, and how attractive each guy is as a target.

Four Cubs Trade Targets

Joe Ryan, RHP (Twins)

The Twins did a lot of selling at the 2025 MLB Trade Deadline, but stopped just short of a full-scale fire sale, electing to hold onto their cost-controlled, front-half-of-the-rotation starter, Joe Ryan.

Joe Ryan turned in an incredible performance before the 2025 MLB Trade Deadline, earning his 2.82 ERA over 20 starts (121.1 IP) primarily on the strength of excellent strikeout (28.9%) and walk (5.1%) rates. He did allow a little too much hard contact, but the overall product (plus his age and trajectory) made him one of the most exciting deadline targets for the Cubs at the time.

That said, his performance after the deadline wasn’t quite as encouraging. Ryan hung onto solid (albeit weaker) strikeout and walk rates (26.5 K%, 7.0 BB%), but the hard hit rate and barrel rate climbed rather dramatically, which turned his pristine pre-deadline results into something far lesser: 4.89 ERA (5.01 FIP).

But I wouldn’t let that dissuade you too much. Joe Ryan is a very good pitcher, still in the prime of his career, making very little money, and under control for two more seasons. He also had a solid track record coming into 2025:

All of that with a career 27.6% strikeout rate and 5.7% walk rate. In fact, from 2022-2025, Joe Ryan’s 4.82 K/BB ratio ranks 11th best in baseball, sandwiched between Aaron Nola and Bryan Woo/Logan Gilbert. You’d be thrilled if the Cubs found a way to add a right-handed, strikeout-heavy arm like Ryan.

But he’s not the only guy to fit the bill!

Edward Cabrera, RHP (Marlins)

As the 2025 MLB Trade Deadline was approaching, Edward Cabrera was taking a back seat to Sandy Alcantara in most of the Cubs trade rumors. But at a certain point, that narrative flipped. Alcantara may have had the better track record, but Cabrera had just as much dormant upside and seemed like he was just beginning to tap into that.

What Cabrera lacks in track record (relative to Joe Ryan), he makes up for in youth, control, and upside. Cabrera is two years younger than Ryan, controlled for one more season, and has a 97 MPH fastball. Walks and injuries had conspired to prevent Cabrera from breaking out much before this season, but he may have turned a corner in 2025. He is a tantalizing target for the Chicago Cubs.

But how did 2025 go, anyway? Well, Cabrera got off to a slow start, allowing 15 earned runs in his first four starts. But after that, he was a stud: 2.95 ERA over 22 starts (119.0 IP) with a 26.5% strikeout rate and a 7.5% walk rate. He also kept the ball on the ground really well (47.9 GB%), which helped limit the barrels to about a league-average rate. And just so you know that I’m not exclusively cherry-picking stats by eliminating those first four games, I will point out that Cabrera ended up with those excellent numbers despite three pretty significant blowups in August and September.

If the Pitch Lab could pick any of these four guys to “next level,” I suspect Cabrera would be the target.

His teammate, however, may not be far behind.

Sandy Alcantara, RHP (Marlins)

Sandy Alcantara was – by far – the most heavily rumored Cubs trade target this season, but the up-and-down performance before the deadline (and as he returned from injury) really halted any progress. But knowing his history (2022 NL Cy Young Award winner and two-time All-Star), and the way he finished the season, he may now be the most attractive target of the bunch. I think he fits right in between Ryan and Cabrera at the crossroads of track record + remaining upside.

Of course, as you can see, Alcantara doesn’t come quite as cheaply as Ryan or Cabrera. But he did finish strong:

Each of those last eight starts went at least six innings, and Alcantara struck out 25% while walking less than 5%. And he paired that with a 7.6% barrel rate and 50.0% groundball rate. Really, just excellent stuff. Moreover, his fastball velocity in those last 12 starts approached (and often exceeded) 98 MPH.

Seeing as 2025 was just his first season back from Tommy John surgery, and he got better as the year went on, I think he’s a pretty exciting target for the Cubs.

MacKenzie Gore, LHP (Nationals)

Like some of the other pitchers on this list, MacKenzie Gore did not have a particularly strong showing after July 30: 6.00 ERA (4.92 FIP) over 9 starts and 42.0 IP. But he is a former tip-top prospect who had a very solid 2024 season (2.90 ERA over 32 starts) and finally looked like he was breaking out in the first half of the season.

In fact, he dominated the Chicago Cubs on June 4, tossing 7.0 shutout innings with just three hits and one walk against 7 strikeouts, looking as dominant as anyone in the process. And that wasn’t a one-game blip, either. In his 21 starts before the July 30 game, Gore posted a 3.52 ERA (3.32 FIP) with a 29.3% strikeout rate and a 9.0% walk rate.

But because he’s left-handed and struggled so mightily down the stretch (and doesn’t have the track record of some other guys on this list), I don’t think he’s necessarily the best target of the bunch. Part of that could be lingering annoyance at the rumored Nationals’ asking price at the deadline (Cade Horton, Matt Shaw +), which was ridiculous then and looks downright unbelievable now. But he’s just more of a project than the other guys. And, again, the Cubs do already have a lot of left-handers in their rotation (Matthew Boyd, Justin Steele, Shota Imanaga).

You wouldn’t not get a pitcher you liked because of that. But as a tiebreaker? You could see it working against him.

That said, if the Pitch Lab found something they liked, in particular, about Gore, he is the youngest pitcher of the bunch and arguably does have as enticing of a pedigree as any of them. When he was a top prospect, he was a TOP prospect. And he was only traded because (1) the Padres are nuts and (2) he was part of the package for multiple years of a then-23-year-old Juan Soto.

Gore may not be the sure-fire arm the Cubs need, but he has flashed front-of-the-rotation upside.

Conclusion

We don’t know yet which (if any) of these four Cubs trade targets will pop back up on Jed Hoyer’s radar this offseason, but these are prime-aged, cost-controlled, strikeout-forward arms the Cubs showed serious interest in at the deadline. And for that reason, you should expect their names to pop back up again this winter.

There are, of course, some interesting names available in free agency, as well (Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez, Jack Flaherty, etc.), but I don’t necessarily expect the Cubs to go fishing in the deep/pricey/long-term end of the free agent starting pitching pool. And frankly, I think I like these four recent Cubs trade targets more than those options anyway.

Throw in the fact that the Cubs don’t have a lot of positional flexibility even after Kyle Tucker’s exit (because of Owen Caissie and Moises Ballesteros, plus Seiya Suzuki and Ian Happ), and you can see how Jed Hoyer might want to make his biggest move of the offseason be another trade.

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